Yarn and spool holder



e 1944- A. F. FLOURNOY YARN AND SPOOL HOLDER,

Filed Nov. 7, 1941 Patented June 13, 1944 YARN AND SPOOL HOLDER Algernon F. Flournoy,-Monroe, La., assignor to Robert Scott Robertson, Shreveport, La.

Application November 7, 1941, Serial No. 418,238

1 Claim.

- My invention'relates to devices used for the An object of my invention is to provide a yarn *holder with a flexible means to exert outward pressur at the center of a ball of yarn or the like suspended on the yarn holder.

Another object of my invention is to provide a yarn holder with a means for suspending a spool 'of thread or the like.

' Another object of my invention is to provide a yarn holder with a, means for stowing away knitting needles when not in use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a yarn holder with an adjustable arm band.

I do not claim to be the inventor broadly of a yarn holder or a spool holder, but as far as I am aware, I am th first inventor to appreciate the necessity of having a yarn holder with an adjustable arm band and a means for stowing away knitting needles when not in use. I feel that I have also made in the art of yarn holders a valuable advance in providing flexible arms and pointed knobs in my yarn holder to adapt it to be thrust into a ball of yarn to hold it. My type of construction does away with the necessity of disassembling of parts and the possibility of losing parts of it.

A clearer understanding of my invention will be had and other objects and advantages of my invention will appear from a reading of my detailed description to follow of the figures of my drawing illustrating embodiments of my invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation view of a yarn holder embodying my invention showing knitting needles stowed away in the holder and including a dotted line representation of my yarn holder supporting a ball of yarn.

Figure 2 is a broken side elevation view of the holder shown in Figure l with the knitting needles removed.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of Figure 1 taken on line 3-3.

Figure 4 is a broken front elevation view of a variation from the yarn holder illustrated in Figure 1 and,

Figure 5 is a side elevation view of the structure shown in Figure 4.

Numeral I designates generally an adjustable arm band forming a part of my yarn holder from which the other parts of my holder are suspended by means of the ring 2. The arm band I is preferthe ends of the spring arms 1.

ably made out of a plastic material, but it may be made out of metal. In any case, the band material is set up in an inwardly contracted overlapping position shown by the dotted line in Figure 1. The arm band I is designed to be opened, against its normal inwardly contracting tension, to expanded positions, such as shown in Figure 1, and locked in such positions by means of the spur clip 3 and the slanting notches 4 into which the tip 5 of the spur clip 3 is designed to fit.

While I consider the adjustable arm band above described to be the most suitable attaching means for use in a device of this kind, it is to be understood that other attaching means such as a safety bar pin might be used within the scope of my invention.

As a means for contacting and holding the ball of yarn or the like I provide in my yarn holder a pair of spring arms 1 preferably formed from a single rod into the shape of a V. This pair of diverging spring arms 1 is connected to the ring 2 by means of a swivel 6 to provide a swingable and turnable connection between the yarn holding spring arms I and the arm band I from which they are suspended so that a ball of yarn held by the spring arms I will accommodate itself to the varying positions of a users arm.

My invention thus far described constitutes a practical yarn holder in that the outward tension alone of the spring arms I would be suflicient to hold a ball of yarn. However, I have gone much further in this inventive concept by my addition of the piercing knobs 8 which I have mounted on These piercing knobs 8 are designed to be thrust into a ball of yarn or through it to assist in holding the yarn on the expansible spring arms 1. I provide slots 9 through the piercing knobs 8 principally as a means for stowing away knitting needles N when not in actual use. The piercing knobs 8 are mounted on the spring arms 1 in diverging planes so that the slots 9 extended through them will be out of alignment with each other except when sprung into alignment with each other by twisting the spring arms I on which they are mounted and bringing them together. In the aligned position of the piercing knobs 8 one or a pair of knitting needles N may be easily inserted through the aligned slots 9. This alignment is easily accomplished by squeezing the piercing knobs 8 until their inner side faces align with each other. When the piercing knobs 8 are released, they will return to the outwardly extended position as shown by the solid lines of Figure l and the out of plane alignment position with each other best shown 'by Figure 3. In this sprung position, the piercing knobs 8 grip the knitting needles N to prevent them from. sliding out of the slots 9 into which they were introduced.

The only difference between the yarn holder illustrated by Figures 4 and 5 and the above described yarn holder, the preferred embodiment, is in the construction of its piercing knobs l8. The spring arms I! and the swivel 16 are made the same way as the spring arms I and swivel 6 of the preferred embodiment. This assembly of spring arms l1, piercing knobs l8, and swivel l6 may be swung by a ring l2 from any suitable arm band or other fastening means or from the novel arm band I forming a part of the above described preferred embodiment of my invention. As shown in Figure 5, th piercing knobs l8 are mounted in the same vertical plane and the slots i9 are made wide enough to receive two knitting needles N. When the piercing knobs l8 are brought together, the slots I9 are brought into alignment with each other to allow the knitting needles N to be passed through them. The out- .ward movement of the piercing knobs 18 into the sprung position shown by the solid lines in Figure 4 throws the slots [9 out of alignment with each other to a position where the knitting needles N are gripped by the piercing knobs l8 to prevent them from sliding out.

A spool of thread such as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 4 could be, mounted on a single knitting needle N for the convenience of a user where thread is needed instead of yarn. A spool of thread could be mounted on a knitting needle N or other rod threaded through the slots 9 of the piercing knobs 8 in the preferred embodiment of my yarn holder if desired. The above described feature makes of my yarn holder a spool holder also.

The ring, swivel, and spring arm portions of my yarn and spool holder should preferably be made out of steel, brass, or the like. The piercing knobs should preferably be made out of plastic material since such a material lends itself to being cast directly onto the ends of the spring arms. However, the piercing knobs might be made out of wood or other material and then fastened to the spring arms in some conventional manner. The arm band could be made out of a plastic ma.- terial or some resilient metal material.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a holder of the class described, the combination of an arm band and a flexible yarn holding means suspended from the band, said yarn holding means including a pair of flexible downwardly extending diverging spring arms, an elongated knob mounted on the lower end of each spring arm and in alignment with the spring arm, said knobs being rounded at their upper ends and terminating in points at their lower ends to adapt them to be readily pushed into and pulled from a ball of yarn, each of said knobs being provided with a crosswise extending slot, said slotsbeing in non-alignment with each other, whereby to adapt the knobs to yieldably hold a knitting needle or the like.

ALGERNON F. FLOURNOY. 

